On their wedding day in 1976, Stephen and Susan (Barr) Wain, both graduates of the class of 1976. After 38 years of married life, Sue says, “Steve is the most giving and generous person I know,” and Steve counters, “Without a doubt, Sue has the most incredibly likeable personality that you can find in anyone. She’s always positive and is a friend for life.”
Stephen Wain (’76) and Susan Barr (’76) met in the fall of their freshman year. And though they may have been destined to be together (to this day, Steve jokes that his admission to Baruch was a lucky “computer error”), their first steps toward romance were anything but certain. Although quite outgoing today, Steve characterizes his younger self as “introverted” and remembers “wondering how I would get the courage to speak to Sue.” Not helping matters, at the beginning of college, Sue was—as she describes herself then—“pretty shy,” although she didn’t stay that way.
In spite of those obstacles, Steve made his move in their freshman law class. In an advance that required four or five classes to complete, he maneuvered closer to where Sue always sat. Next he asked to borrow her notes for a class day he’d missed; only it turned out she’d missed that day as well. Success finally came with a pen ploy: Steve asked to borrow a pen. “I had a purple pen with scented ink,” Sue recalls. “He borrowed it, and we both shared a laugh. From then on, we started to become friends.”
A Santana concert in October at the Nassau Coliseum was their first official date. “We had a great time and talked the whole night,” says Sue, who “can still picture walking back to Steve’s car and the jacket he was wearing.” Even so, it looked as if their romantic relationship had fizzled after only two months—although they remained friends. Then one of Sue’s friends persuaded Steve to ask Sue out again. Their second round of dating began on May 4, 1973 (yes, they remember the day), and they’ve been together ever since. “Love at first sight?” Steve asks. “I don’t know, but close to it.”
Sue was initially an accounting major and then changed to a computer science major; Steve started out as a double major in accountancy and computer science and a minor in law. Both were academically motivated and enthusiastic about their studies, especially comp sci. They spent a lot of time in the College’s Computer Center, “debugging our programs and just hanging out,” Sue says. They weren’t alone: the computer science students formed an ad hoc club (Steve was the president), and the center was their clubhouse. Steve was an engineer and later a DJ at WBMB, the College radio station, and occasionally Sue would visit him there. Of course, they also hung out with friends at Baruch’s (official) Student Center, and after hours the gang could be found at Chinatown’s legendary restaurant Wo Hop on Mott Street.
By 1975 the college juniors had already discussed getting married. “I was not exactly sure when,” says Steve, “but it was obvious to me that I didn’t want to be without Sue for any stretch of time.” He proposed the summer before their senior year, and they married a few months after Sue graduated, on Sept. 19, 1976 (Steve graduated the previous January, having completed an accelerated 3½-year course of study).
The Wains today.
The day they got back from their Hawaiian honeymoon, they drove from New York to Texas for Steve’s job. Eventually they would settle back on the East Coast, in New Jersey, where they now live and work. Steve is the founder and president of Calder Associates, Inc., a middle market M&A advisory with offices in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Washington, D.C. area. Sue is Calder’s director of professional services. The Wains have three grown children, Jenny, Jason, and Bryan.
Says the very happily married husband, “Many partnerships don’t last, and some that do last in name only. But Sue is definitely someone I am happy to call my true ‘partner in life.’ We work together and are with each other for almost 24 hours a day. After over 38 years, that says a lot.”
—Diane Harrigan
♥ Additional Baruch Love Stories ♥
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Where Hearts Intersect: Daniel (’45) and Charlotte Bender (’50) Eth
An Evening Session Romance: Barbara Traiger and George Gershon (’56)
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